Washington Square Park

Washington Square Park is a 9.75-acre public park in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The land was once home to Minetta Creek and the Lenape village of Sapokanican, and, in 1643, a group of "half-freed" slaves created farmland from the area. It became an African-American community known as "Little Africa", and it remained farmland until 1797, when it became a public burial ground for unknown or indigent people. In 1826, the square was laid out and levelled, and it became one of the city's most desirable residential areas during the 1830s. A public park was created in 1871 at the foot of Fifth Avenue, and a large memorial arch was erected in 1889 to commemorate the centennial of George Washington's inauguration as President. In 1888, a statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi was elected, and two Washington statues were erected in 1918. After the end of World War II, the park became popular for folk singers, and it also housed a rally for Barack Obama in 2007 which was attended by 20,000 people.